Soon after NVIDIA unveiled its G-SYNC technology, AMD announced that it would pursue an open standard, dubbed FreeSync, leveraging technologies already available in the DisplayPort specification to offer adaptive refresh rates to users of some discrete Radeon GPUs and AMD APUs. AMD’s goal with FreeSync was to introduce a technology that offered similar end-user benefits to NVIDIA’s G-SYNC, that didn’t require monitor manufacturers to employ any proprietary add-ons (like NVIDIA’s G-Sync module), and that could be adopted by any GPU maker.

Though there were some technologies already available within the existing embedded DisplayPort specifications to support adaptive refresh rates, AMD still had to dedicate the resources necessary to enable FreeSync with its GPUs. AMD also had to help develop the software and hooks necessary for display manufacturers to enable FreeSync in their monitor firmware, which is what AMD has been up to since the initial FreeSync announcements were made. But now AMD is ready to release its first FreeSync capable set of drivers, and we’ve had the chance to play with them for a little while using a sleek, ultra-widescreen display from LG. The LG 34UM67 features an IPS panel with a native resolution of 2560x1080, a max refresh rate of 75Hz, and support for AMD FreeSync...

For those interested in learning more about programming for AMD’s Mantle API, AMD sends word today that the public API reference documentation is now available. So pull up a chair, get comfortable, and find large quantities of caffeine as this isn’t the sort of material for a quick read – the PDF weighs in at a hefty 435 pages. That’s pretty much par for the course when it comes to API guides though – the Direct3D 11 API is almost certainly just as long (though I couldn’t seem to find a comparable PDF).

And it’s not just about Mantle, as earlier this month it was announced that the next generation OpenGL, Vulkan, will build off of AMD’s work with Mantle. The Vulkan API hasn’t been finalized yet, but the Mantle API should serve as a good primer if you’re interested. With the full API and reference guide now publicly available, we should hopefully see more games and applications leverage Mantle going forward.

Guaranteed reliability and enhanced thermal performance are the crucial principles upon which Asus’ TUF series motherboards are forged. A variety of military-grade certification tests, as well as five years’ worth of warranty, tackle the ‘guaranteed’ part of guaranteed reliability.

The physical elements of reliability and thermal performance, however, are handled with a different approach which includes a mixture of customised engineering and specifically-chosen components.

So far the Intel X99-based motherboards from ASUS have left us with nothing but positive impressions, which is something that can't quite say about every manufacturer. From the enthusiast-oriented Rampage V Extreme, to the featured-filled X99-Deluxe, to the slightly more affordable X99-PRO, these models have impressed us not only because of their design and features, but also largely because of how polished they were with respect to their BIOS, software, and ease of overclocking.

Having said that, with a price range of between $380 to over $530, these models are priced outside of the reach of many enthusiasts. With this in mind, today we will be reviewing the X99-A, the most affordable model in the ASUS X99 lineup. It comes in at around $250 USD / $330 CAD, which is still more expensive than a few other competing X99 motherboards, but we are hoping that it should still have the qualities that make the ASUS X99 series standout from the rest.

While this A model is only about $50 cheaper than the X99-PRO, that is actually a pretty solid discount considering the fact that all you are giving up is the onboard Wi-Fi module, the Hyper M.2 x4 expansion card, a white plastic trim piece and a "northbridge" heatsink that doesn't actually cool anything. As a result, specs-wise the X99-A is still quite impressive thanks to its four physical PCI-E x16 slots, 3-way CrossFire and 3-way SLI capabilities, two PCI-E x1 slots, one M.2 x4 connectors, one SATA Express ports, eight SATA 6Gb/s port (plus the two on the SATAe port), six USB 3.0 ports, four USB 2.0/3.0 headers, one Intel-powered Gigabit LAN port, a Thunderbolt 2.0 header, Realtek's latest eight-channel HD audio controller, and a bunch of onboard buttons and switches.

The prodigy M combines the mATX interior of the Phenom M with the portability of the original Prodigy. Doing so is no easy task as gamers would want to take advantage of all the interior features for multi-GPU setups, liquid cooling, or an external drive bay. We take a look at the green variant, but you may pick from among many different colors if this one is not to your liking.

Back in December we took a look at Cougar’s flagship gaming keyboard the 700K, which took home our Editor’s Choice Award. We are moving down Cougar’s gaming keyboard product stack and next up is the 600K. The 600K is a small step down from the 700K, but it still features the same aluminum chassis design, mechanical key switches, repeat rate buttons, FPS palm rest and more. The only real big difference between the 600K and 700K is that the 700K has the 6 extra programmable G keys and individual key backlighting. The 600K still makes for a really great keyboard and has a complete feature set that many gamers are going to enjoy. Read on as we take a look…

In the latter part of 2014 and with great fanfare, Intel launched their new i7 Extreme line of CPUs. Along with the new CPUs came a new socket and a long awaited chipset: the X99. EVGA has long been associated with manufacturing some of the best and fastest GPUs around and their reputation for creating a quality product follows along … Read more.

The latest, 10041 build of the Windows 10 technical preview hasn't been in hand long, but already there's a few things that stand out. There are some nice new features present in the build and visually the UI is beginning to come together. There's still a lot of work to be done on it before that summer launch timeframe, but from the new look login screen through to the translucent start menu and everything in between, it's starting to get somewhere. While we're picking through everything, check out a whole bunch of images below.

One of the downsides of the increased popularity of mechanical keyboards is that for the most part they are a lot thicker than rubber dome keyboards. That can sometimes lead to more wrist pain. Some manufactures include a wrist rest with their mechanical keyboards but that isn’t an option for everyone. When I switched to a Code keyboard and moved to a new desk I noticed right away that the new desk would dig into my arm, so this put me on the market for a wrist rest that fit my needs. I had seen a few people using Grifiti Fat Wrist Pads previously and knew that the thick padded design would be perfect for my needs. Well when I ordered one from Amazon I actually ran into a small problem and that led to me speaking to Grifiti’s owner and along with replacing mine he sent a whole box of different pads for me to check out. Now that I have been using the Grifiti Fat Wrist Pads for a while now I can finally talk a little about how they perform, enjoy!

Thanks to a very strict password policy and one too many passwords to remember, I managed to forget both the root and user account passwords of a test Fedora 21 installation. I could have reinstalled the whole system, but decided that the situation presented a good opportunity to attempt a password recovery.

We take a look at Canonical's Linux smartphone. Canonical has been talking about its mobile plans for quite some time, promising that it will one day create a truly all-encompassing ecosystem that bridges the gap between mobile and desktop systems.

To date, however, we've seen only glimmers of hope that this will actually happen with Ubuntu. Other competing tech companies, like Microsoft with its recently unveiled Windows 10 OS, have begun gaining ground in efforts to create a converged ecosystem.

Fortunately we had our interest in Canonical's open-source Ubuntu Mobile operating system reignited at MWC 2015, as we finally got to see the platform in its full glory running on the Meizu MX4 smartphone.

Seagate has a eye catching wireless solution with its 500GB wireless mass storage device. It is able to stream content wirelessly to your smartphone, tablet or laptop and can store movies and TV shows. It is even designed to cater to student houses and families, allowing up to three devices to stream from it at once.

SilverStone brings us the Precision Series PS11B-Q ATX case for the budget minded or entry level enthusiast. The Precision Series includes two variants, the PS11B-Q and the PS11B-W. This review will focus on the SilverStone PS11B-Q, which is the silent version of the Precision series.

Just about everything in our homes is getting smarter and that usually means these gizmos are getting connected to the Internet too. I've got a smart TV, a smart Blu-ray player, some smart speakers and, should I feel so inclined, I could nab a smart thermostat, a smart carbon monoxide detector, a smart fridge, and a smart door lock, among countless others. I may as well have a smart webcam too.

It's not that IP cameras are a particularly new phenomenon, but in the age of the Internet of Things, they're becoming far more commonplace among the average mainstream consumer. To this end, they need to be feature-rich and easy to use. Addressing this segment of the market is the SpotCam HD IP camera, making the whole standalone, web-connected video feed thing a reality for just about anyone.